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"I am certainly temperamentally different from my parents And you, do you resemble your parents?"

"They are both dead I hardly knew my father, and had very little to say toin his voice that did not welcome further enquiry on that front

"Where is your country seat?" she asked

He looked down at her and said, "You really don’t know anything about me, do you?"

"Why should I?"

"There are so few dukes that I know quite a lot about thereat friends with young Duke of Astley, for example"

"Indeed" She climbed the stairs

"I haven’t seen Astley in a few years," Villiers said "I suppose you know him well"

"As you say, he is friends with reat deal of ti up," Eleanor said steadily "Of course now that he’s married, we see him much less frequently I believe we shall find my mother in the refreshments tent"

"You should probably remove this curl," he said With a start, she realized that one of the fat curls Rackfort had pinned into her hair was dangling by one pin alone Villiers’s fingers brushed her cheek; he twisted and the curl lay in his pal," Eleanor said She pulled off the other one as well

"As opposed to a city slug?"

"A city slug would be wearing powder," she said, se

He almost smiled back She could see it in his eyes

"Would you like me to escort you to your mother?"

If the duke arrived at her mother’s side, with Eleanor on his arh London "I believe not," she said "I shall consider the matter, Your Grace Perhaps, if I decide to continue our acquaintance, I shall pay a visit to Kent"

"You are truly a very interesting woman," he said slowly

"I assure you that you are quite mistaken I am positively tedious in almost every respect"

"Not so Do you kno unusual it is for a duke-- lady without the wo an overt expression of fierce interest?"

"I do apologize if I insulted you again," she said "First I compared you to an incontinent canine, and now I have apparently not marshaled the proper enthusiash hisenthusiasm for my charms?"

"I expect we feel precisely the same way about each other," she said "Cautiously interested It appears that I suit your criteria, and you seeroup of people is cohtly into the shadow of a pillar "If you wish to retreat to your ht to leave"

She turned to go and his deep voice stopped her "I set out for Sevenoaks in two or three days, Lady Eleanor I would be--"

She looked back at him "Yes?"